Homeless veterans to fill beds at West L.A. veterans campus

Veteran's Administration campus in West L.A.

Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times

"For the first time in 30 years there's a real prospect that homeless and mentally ill veterans will be able to live and receive treatment in this building, " said Bobby Shriver, who has been the leading activist urging the VA to refurbish and utilize this building on its West Los Angeles campus.

"For the first time in 30 years there's a real prospect that homeless and mentally ill veterans will be able to live and receive treatment in this building, " said Bobby Shriver, who has been the leading activist urging the VA to refurbish and utilize this building on its West Los Angeles campus. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Gale Holland

Vacant beds at the Veterans Administration campus in West Los Angeles will be filled by homeless vets on state waiting lists for nursing home care, authorities said Thursday.

The arrangement is part of stepped-up federal assistance, including expanded rental housing vouchers and medical outreach teams, that the Veterans Administration is promising the 6,000 veterans who live on the streets of Los Angeles County.

According to a 2013 count, the number of homeless veterans in the county has dropped 6% since 2011, while the overall homeless figure climbed 16% to 58,000. Officials attributed the drop in homeless veterans to federal funding flowing to them in a rare show of bipartisanship by Congress.

The Veterans Administration also pledged to set up a one-stop service center and to seek private funding partners to renovate buildings 205 and 208 on the West L.A. campus. Project 50, a program that establishes housing and mental health and medical services for the most vulnerable homeless people, will also be expanded.

The beds in the State Veterans Home will be used for those on waiting lists until state funding comes through to move them into regular nursing home care.